(Technically my fourth, thanks
Senioritis)
The hardest part about researching a
complicated 20time project for a high school class is the never ending
research. The hours tick by slowly, your back aches, your eyes are strained,
and your mind is desperate for that one set of words or sentences that will
finally take your research in the right direction; making the hours of pain
finally worth it. Strangely enough I find this activity quite interesting
because most of life, especially in a scientific field of study, will be spent digging
through the raw input of our senses for that one little gold nugget of success.
Well on to the few gold nuggets I’ve
found these past few weeks. First off I’ve had to correct one of my previous
posts stating that humans consume 23 litres of O2 a day. According to what I could
find on the NASA website its closer to 0.84 kg which makes up under a litre although
the litre isn’t a reliable unit in this case.
Second I have done a lot of research
into the symbiosis of current forms of algae. The two more prominent specimens
I’ve discovered, that relate to this project, are Dinoflagellates in coral,
which help produce nutritional substances for the host, and green algae in tape
worms, which do exactly what I want the lung replacement version to do: turn
the host’s CO2 into breathable O2 (although this green algae still uses photons
from the sun in its photosynthesis).
Lastly I had a nice chat with a
lovely woman who works in the astrobiology department at Ames Research Center
in Moffett field in northern California. When proposing my idea to her she suggested
that I focus my research on double photon absorption instead of a thermal
replacement for photons in photosynthesis. I’ve done a little research on this
subject but its applications thus far are difficult to find. As per usual, more
research is required.
